Case Background

The case revolves around the evolution of Burberry. From a purely functional brand with a
distinctive British heritage, that catered to the premium customers of England to a luxurious
and creative brand present across all segments of the market. The transition started due to its
concentrated customer base and improper product positioning along with its failure to
maintain their distribution and licensing which flooded the market with sub-standard
products. This in turn led to inconsistent quality and a subsequent drop in brand value. They
also had over reliance on a narrow base of core products.
Owing to these issues the senior management was revamped under the leadership of Rose
Maria Bravo. She repositioned the brand and catered to wide range of customers and also
brought in changes to the name,logo and packaging. She made the firm centralized getting in
more control and was careful so as to not dissociate the brand from its original customer
segments. To this end she ensured her advertising strategy included ambassadors that catered
to both the segments. Bravos turnaround was undoubtedly a success.
Critique:
The case analyst group did not mention the following in the pertinent questions

Sustainability of Burberry Brand Positioning

Bravo has mentioned this sustainability in The Next Five Years and this
positioning has helped them in the previous five years too. Eugenia Ulasewicz
mentions everyone is a competitor now .
Ways to maintain Long term growth while taking Burberry to next level and not
having customer burn out
Bravo mentions in the case that they have successfully wedged between
lifestyle represented by Ralph Lauren and Fashion represented by Gucci but
she wonders how they will be able to maintain it in the long term.

They have also mentioned that young and hip crowd consists of football holligans and might
cause the same issue from the past but continued use of Celebrities and highly defined
product variation will take care of the issue.
Counter Points in the proposed solution

Their emphasis on reducing the use of Checks gradually and move away from it
Checks have been the synonym with Burberry and the vision of the company
it to stay true to its heritage and having an Englishman at advertising emphasis
it. Bravo wants the brand to be an international luxury brand which is classic
as well as contemporary so Checks should not be reduced as suggested by the
group.

They have mentioned the reduced licensing but they have already controlled it

They would need some licensing for their non-core products as they will need
specific expertise. ( Design to sourcing , Manufacturing and distribution is
controlled by Burberry so they have better control to stop counterfeiting)
In addition to the groups solution , following ideas can be looked at

They have not mentioned ways on how to achieve cohesiveness in different product
lines.
They can include Marketing campaign for maintaining the positioning of the product
Use Fashion models , Sports stars . Exhibit 17 says that advertising budget is atleast
3% of sales and if they can have specific targeted marketing campaign they can
increase sales.